Friday, August 4, 2017

The real heroes of last night’s
vote are not John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, or Susan Collins. They aren’t
the 48 Democratic senators either. The real heroes are the direct
action protestors in ADAPT that demonstrated tremendous courage in going
to the offices of senators and putting their often broken bodies
between those senators and ACA repeal.

Everyone knew this bill was a
disaster. But that didn’t stop most Republican senators from voting for
it. The pressure to do so was tremendous. And the real pressure is
internal. Especially in this era of exceptional partisanship, voting for
the team is the highest priority for most senators. It was far easier
to vote for this monstrosity than stand up to McConnell, Pence, and
Trump, not to mention big donors like Adelson, Koch, and Wynn. Dean
Heller knows this bill is terrible and he knows that it is bad for the
people of his state. He also lacks the courage to do anything about it. I
strongly believe that without the ADAPT protests, it’s quite likely at
least one of those three senators votes for the bill. Such an assertion
can be directly proven, but neither can it be for nearly any other
protest movement in history, including the civil rights movement of the
50s and 60s. Most politicians will never say, “I voted against a bill
because protestors came to my door.” But they will vote for or against
bills based on public pressure. Direct action protest adds to that
public pressure. Moreover, those direct action protests also inspire
other, less radical, activists into action–calling senators, going to
town halls, talking to friends and family about the issue.

I
mention all of this because even at this late date, many in the LGM
community, broadly defined, are not very comfortable with direct action
protest. Many commenters will deny that protest helps and they write
about how uncomfortable they are with protests, turning into
self-parodies of liberals. This kind of direct action is not the be all
and end all of political action. But like voting and lobbying, it is an
absolutely required type of political action. When people see disabled
and mortally ill people sacrificing themselves to save health care, not
only for themselves, but for millions of people, it gives a face to the
issue. Much like ACT-UP galvanized political support to fight HIV
instead of just letting gays and heroin users die, ADAPT helped build
political pressure against ACA repeal. We are going to need a lot more
of this in the future, and I hope people step up with this kind of
action. I also hope we all recognize the vitality and necessity of
direct action and do what we can to support it.

As I walked back into the Capitol, what came to mind were all the people
I have heard over the years who told me that political activism was a
sucker's game, a rigged wheel, a space for performance art with an
audience of rich people. I agreed with a lot of the last part of that,
and still do. But there are only two ways to go, even if you accept the
latter part of the premise. You can accept that political activism is a
sucker's game and give up, or wrap yourself in the robes of ideological
purity as though they were suits of armor. Or, you can accept that
political activism is a sucker's game and then engage in political
activism to make it less so.

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About Me

"Blue" in Blue in the Bluegrass refers to my politics, not my state of mind, although being progressive-democratic in Kentucky is not for the faint of heart.
The Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is Central Kentucky, the area around Lexington. It's also sometimes known as the Golden Triangle, the region formed by Louisville in the west, Cincinnati in the north and Lexington in the east-south corner. This is the most economically advanced, politically progressive and aesthically beautiful area of the state. Also the most overpopulated by annoying yuppies and the most endangered by urban sprawl.
A Yellow Dog Democrat is one who will vote for even a yellow dog if it is running as a Democrat. I can't claim to be quite that fanatically partisan, especially since quite a few candidates who run as Democrats in Kentucky are more Republican than a lot of Republicans I can name.
But I do love the story Kentucky House leader Rocky Adkins never tires of telling about the old-timer in Eastern Kentucky who was once accused of being willing to vote for Satan if Satan ran as a Democrat. Spat back the old-timer:
"Not in a primary, I wouldn't!"
Amen.